Mumbai: Gold and silver prices fell in early trade on Thursday, on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), as investors booked profits after both metals hit record highs in the previous session. 

At around 9:15 am, MCX Gold December futures were down 0.34 per cent at Rs 1,22,789 per 10 grams, while MCX Silver December futures slipped 0.75 per cent to Rs 1,48,738 per kg.

In Wednesday’s session, gold futures for December delivery had touched an all-time high of Rs 1,23,450 per 10 grams, and silver had hit a fresh peak of Rs 1,50,282 per kg.

Gold prices have seen a sharp rally this year, with domestic spot prices jumping more than 50 per cent so far.

The surge has been driven by global political and economic uncertainties, expectations of interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve, a weaker US dollar, strong central bank buying, and robust inflows into gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Experts believe that despite some short-term volatility and profit booking, gold prices will continue to rise in the coming months.

They expect gold to surpass Rs 1,25,000 per 10 grams by the end of 2025, supported by rate cut hopes and concerns related to US trade tariffs.

“By year-end, gold on the MCX could move towards Rs 1,25,000–Rs 1,28,000 per 10 grams, while silver could test Rs 1,55,000–Rs 1,60,000 per kg, assuming the US Federal Reserve delivers one or two rate cuts and the dollar remains under pressure,” market experts added.

“Gold broke above $4,000 per ounce — up 53 per cent year-over-year — as investors sought safe havens amid the government shutdown and policy uncertainty,” analysts added.

The Dollar Index rallied to 98.90 due to political instability in France and Japan, which pressured commodities.

Oil fell 0.67 per cent to $62.13 per barrel as Trump announced progress on the ceasefire and inventories exceeded expectations, easing geopolitical risk premiums, as per the experts.

New Delhi: The Ministry of Labour and Employment has released the draft National Labour & Employment Policy – Shram Shakti Niti 2025 for public consultation. The draft policy presents a renewed vision for a fair, inclusive, and future-ready world of work aligned with the national aspiration of Viksit Bharat @2047. 

Rooted in India’s civilisational ethos of śrama dharma – the dignity and moral value of work, the policy envisions a labour ecosystem that ensures protection, productivity, and participation for every worker. It seeks to create a balanced framework that upholds workers’ welfare while enabling enterprises to grow and generate sustainable livelihoods, according to an official statement released on Wednesday.

Shram Shakti Niti 2025 positions the Ministry of Labour & Employment (MoLE) as a proactive Employment Facilitator, driving convergence among workers, employers, and training institutions through trusted, technology-led systems. 

The National Career Service (NCS) platform will serve as India’s Digital Public Infrastructure for Employment, enabling transparent and inclusive job matching, credential verification, and skill alignment. 

Through open APIs, multilingual access, and AI-driven innovation, the NCS-DPI will connect opportunity with talent across Tier-II and Tier-III cities, rural districts, and MSME clusters, making employment facilitation a nationwide public good, the statement said.

The policy also places strong emphasis on universal social security, occupational safety and health, women and youth empowerment, and the creation of green and technology-enabled jobs. 

It aims to build a resilient and continuously skilled workforce capable of meeting the demands of emerging technologies, climate transitions, and global value chains. By integrating key national databases such as EPFO, ESIC, e-Shram, and NCS into a unified Labour Stack, the policy envisions an inclusive and interoperable digital ecosystem that supports lifelong learning, social protection, and income security.

The draft policy reflects extensive stakeholder consultations and emphasises cooperative federalism, evidence-based policymaking, and digital transparency. It provides a long-term framework for coordinated action among the Centre, states, industry, and social partners to ensure that the benefits of growth are shared widely and equitably, the statement said.

The draft National Labour & Employment Policy – Shram Shakti Niti 2025 is available on the websites of the Ministry of Labour & Employment, the Directorate General of Employment (DGE), and the National Career Service (NCS). Stakeholders, institutions, and members of the public are invited to submit their feedback, comments, and suggestions by 27th October 2025 at ddg-dget[at]nic[dot]in.

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan on Wednesday informed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that its economy suffered Rs744 billion in losses due to floods, with 60% of the damage occurring in the agriculture sector and again sought adjustment of these losses against the programme targets.

The preliminary damage assessment has been shared with the IMF, as Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb confirmed that the review talks concluded with the global lender on Wednesday. The talks were aimed at securing two loan tranches totalling around $1.2 billion under separate loan programmes.

Aurangzeb said that the IMF had shared the Memorandum for Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) and that the Staff-Level Agreement for completing the second review would be announced after further discussions. The MEFP is a set of policy documents agreed upon by both sides. “There has been a broader consensus with the IMF,” said the finance minister during an informal discussion outside the Q Block with journalists from two media outlets.

Sources said that towards the conclusion of the talks, discussions focused on adjusting the impact of the floods against the programme’s targets of primary budget surplus and provincial cash surplus. The finance ministry also briefed the prime minister in this regard, they added.

The IMF had set the primary budget surplus target at Rs3.1 trillion and had earlier indicated roughly Rs500 billion adjustments within the budget to offset the flood impact. Sources said that the finance ministry wanted the IMF to allow adjustments against the target to the extent of the actual damages.

According to preliminary findings shared with the IMF, the economy sustained Rs744 billion in losses. After adjusting these losses, the economic growth is now projected to remain at 3.5%, against the annual target of 4.2%. The revised growth projection is still about 1% higher than the World Bank’s recent projection of 2.6%, which also cited flood damage.

Of the Rs744 billion losses, Punjab bore Rs632 billion, according to initial assessments. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) reported Rs51.3 billion in losses, followed by Sindh with Rs32.2 billion, another Rs12.6 billion in K-P, and Rs6.8 billion in Balochistan.

Flooding in three rivers and flash rains in the country’s upper regions inundated large areas, forcing the evacuation of 6.5 million people.

The projected Rs744 billion losses are double the earlier Rs370 billion estimate shared with the IMF.

Details show the agriculture sector sustained Rs439 billion in losses, roughly 60% of the total. Almost all these were crop-related. As a result, agriculture growth is now projected at 3%, compared to the 4.5% target. Growth in the crops sub-sector is expected to fall below 1%, against the target of 5.4%. Crops on 3.3 million acres and 22,841 livestock were affected.

Roughly one-third of the cotton crop was destroyed, with output now projected at 7.2 million bales, a reduction of up to 3.4 million bales, as per preliminary estimates.

Authorities estimated that 12.6% of the rice crop was damaged, with expected production at 8.9 million tonnes, representing a loss of 600,000 to 1.2 million tonnes. Sugarcane production has been revised to 79 million tonnes, reflecting losses between 1.3 million and 3.3 million tonnes, or 4% of budget estimates. Maize production is projected to decline by 13%, with output capped at 9.2 million tonnes.

The industrial sector sustained Rs48 billion in losses, with its annual growth rate revised slightly down to 4.1%, according to the assessment.

The services sector is projected to have suffered the second-highest losses of Rs257 billion, reducing its growth forecast by 0.4% to 3.6%. Within services, the transport and storage subsector incurred the highest loss, Rs150 billion, cutting its growth rate almost by half to 1.9%. Real estate activities recorded Rs55 billion in losses, while wholesale and trade sectors lost Rs40 billion.

Preliminary assessments showed that 229,763 houses were damaged, 790 bridges destroyed, and 866 water infrastructure systems washed away. About 2,811 kilometres of roads were damaged.

In Punjab alone, 213,097 houses were damaged, followed by 6,370 in Balochistan, 3,332 in Sindh, 3,222 in K-P, 2,417 in Azad Kashmir, and 1,260 in Gilgit-Baltistan. In Punjab, 1,216 kilometres of roads and 462 bridges were destroyed, while 5,467 livestock perished.

A total of 1,037 deaths and 1,067 injuries were reported nationwide. The highest number of deaths, 509, occurred in K-P, followed by 322 in Punjab, 90 in Sindh, 38 each in Balochistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 31 in Gilgit-Baltistan, and nine in Islamabad.

Floodwaters also affected eight mines and 1,297 commercial shops. About 2,267 educational institutions, 243 health facilities, and 129 public buildings were damaged. The floods disrupted normal life in 70 districts, affecting 6.5 million people, of whom four million were relocated to safer areas.